Prior to this year, I may have seen 3 bald eagles in my entire life. In the last two weeks, one was injured near Hamptonville, and rescued.
Last Thursday, one swooped down dangerously close to a big rig here.
https://goo.gl/maps/BtBcyWi3VGqWYDkF7
While driving to a job this morning, I happened to see a smallish once standing/jumping in someone's front yard. This was a most unusual, and unexpected sight. It was located here.
https://goo.gl/maps/BkFZqF1mSG9oXsPX8
Two were recently killed just north of here. Sad world.
https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/2020/08/25/nuckols-gun-works-offers-reward-eagles-killed-highland-county/3437199001/
I've seen several over the last few years, or they may be the same birds, but very cool to watch through the glass.
Never tire of watching them. 🦅🦅🦅🦅
Have never seen any in our town, but I'm told there's been a nesting pair the last few years at the landfill near Wentworth.
Have seen some at Philpott Lake. Fairly plentiful at Kerr Lake (Buggs Island). Bunches of them down on the lower James R below Richmond.
Many years ago I taught a field ornithology class for local college with the goal of showing students 100 species of birds in Virginia during the semester. Some years we never saw an eagle and if we did see one it was a major highlight!
Today it is not uncommon to see a dozen or more while fishing. They are now so common a friend/fishing guide offers Eagle Tours on the lower James.
I've seen them a lot on the lower James. Eastern Virginia has a good number, and see the occasional eagle up near Stafford. They are remarkable and the only bird I have ever seen that does not actively get out of the way of an aircraft.
I sight ten plus a year now.
It was the only raptor I saw on our CA trip.
I see them almost every time I get around a big body of water now. I've even seen a couple on the river below my house. I do a good bit of fishing on Clark's Hill lake, and I usually see several every day down there. There is one point where a pair has nested three years in a row now in a big pine tree, and there is an annual osprey nest a few hundred yards away. Pretty cool stuff.
Quote from: Dougfish on September 23, 2020, 20:59:04 PMI sight ten plus a year now.
It was the only raptor I saw on our CA trip.
What you talking about? You don't remember that big hawk (assuming red tail) flying way above us? That dude was way up there.
Here's an interesting map of spotted Virginia eagle nests. Seems a few have braved the environs west of the Blue Ridge to try to raise their young.
https://ccbbirds.org/maps/#eagles
PS: Not to disappoint Yaller and Big J, so a suck fest novel in a totally unrelated thread. Some, some I say, conservatives suck. Some liberals suck. Some gun-owners suck. Some non-gun-owners suck. Some believers suck. Some atheists suck. Some whites born with indoor plumbing suck. Some whites born obliged to use an outhouse suck. Some people of color suck. Some sane folk suck. Some irrational folk suck. Some males suck. Some females suck. Some transgenders suck. Some wives suck. Some husbands suck. Some teachers suck. Some students suck. Some old people suck. Some youngsters suck. Some environmentalists suck. Some industrialists suck. Some working folk suck. Some on the government teat suck. Some hunters suck. Some anti-hunters suck. Some animal lovers suck. Some animal husbandry folk suck. Some smart people suck. Some ignorant people suck. Some eagle watchers suck. Some blind people suck. Most fly anglers suck. All liars and UVA fans suck.
First one that I recall seeing in my adult life was on the Allagash waterway in the 80's, it was the second or third day of the trip paddling on Eagle Lake when we saw a Bald Eagle soring overhead and my girlfriend exclaimed, "It makes you proud to be an American!"
I've seen them on the Smith and Jackson Rivers as well as down by Jordan lake.
Quote from: Woolly Bugger on September 24, 2020, 09:42:22 AMFirst one that I recall seeing in my adult life was on the Allagash waterway in the 80's, it was the second or third day of the trip paddling on Eagle Lake when we saw a Bald Eagle soring overhead and my girlfriend exclaimed, "It makes you proud to be an American!"
Cool, but it doesn't add up. Doug claims all your girlfriends have had difficulty seeing – something about the only way you ever got laid, much less roping one of them into a camping/canoeing trip. So, how the heck did this unique gal see the high-flying eagle?
PS: Some girlfriends suck.
Quote from: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on September 24, 2020, 11:43:38 AMQuote from: Woolly Bugger on September 24, 2020, 09:42:22 AMFirst one that I recall seeing in my adult life was on the Allagash waterway in the 80's, it was the second or third day of the trip paddling on Eagle Lake when we saw a Bald Eagle soring overhead and my girlfriend exclaimed, "It makes you proud to be an American!"
Cool, but it doesn't add up. Doug claims all your girlfriends have had difficulty seeing – something about the only way you ever got laid, much less roping one of them into a camping/canoeing trip. So, how the heck did this unique gal see the high-flying eagle?
PS: Some girlfriends suck.
The guide pointed it out...
Any large body of water or river has them in my neck of the woods. Kerr lake is infested with them.
I have seen them on the SOHO B/4 and I saw one fly over the Watauga close to Elizabethton
JT
I hear they taste "fishy" but still better than great blue heron.
Spotted many Bald and I think Golden Eagles along the SF of the Shenandoah.
I didn't think Virginia had Golden Eagles until I just looked it up. Now I'm wondering if one big Red Tail hawk I saw (and Doug thought was an Eagle) was actually a Golden Eagle. Interesting.
Very difficult to differentiate Golden vs juvenile Bald eagle from a distance.
Yep, that was why I said I think. Just not sure. I see eagles every time I kayak that river and sometimes flying near my house.
There's a bald eagle nest where the french broad tailwater and holston tailwater come together, east of knoxville. They put on a pretty big show for the non-motorized watercraft crowd. Hunting and fishing real close to boats.
The only golden eagle i've ever seen in the wild was in Canada and it was about twice the size of a bald eagle. Its nest was the size of a VW bug turned upside down at the top of a tree.